Confessions
by Piper Redfern
Summary: COMPLETE My first ship fic (and 3rd fanfic I've started), this is a Hermione Granger and Severus Snape ship. This was written in response to a request for a friend. Please R&R!
1. The Potions Test

This story was written at the request of my friend known as Lady Midian. It is my first ship fic and was originally started as a one shot/one chapterfic. I couldn't seem to contain it to one chapter though (obviously) and it took me a period of days to write this the way I wanted it. It may be a little "feel good" or however you want to classify it, but especially considering it's my first ship fic and also my first completed story, I feel quite proud of it.

I still like reviews. :grins:

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The sun gleamed off the lake, while the squid slowly sank beneath the cool, rippling water. However, the only other movement outside was a slight warm breeze. The students of Hogwarts could instead be seen inside the castle, staring longingly out the window to watch the lazy day go by.

Inside the dungeon classroom for Potions, however, there was no such scene. There were no windows for the students to stare out of. There was no warmth for the students sitting in the classroom. And there was no time for laziness, as the students were working on a Potions test. In one corner, a group of Slytherins could be seen slightly clowning around and not completely focusing on their potions. Across the room, a dark-haired boy and a redhead could be seen glaring between the Slytherins and the Potions teacher who refused to discipline them. At one point they caught the eye of a bushy haired girl working at a different cauldron, then proceeded to continue working on their test.

"I hope, Miss Granger, that you are not attempting to help your friends actually pass a test," Professor Snape warned. "I would be forced to give all four of you a zero if you were."

Hermione shook her head before answering, "No, Professor. I didn't say a word to them."

"Ten points from Gryffindor," was the curt reply to her statement. "Even if you weren't helping them, you needn't check on their progress." Snape turned around and walked back up to his desk at the front of the room, his long dark cape billowing out behind him.

The students continued working with fervor, rushing to finish their potion in time. A crash of glass was suddenly heard, followed by Neville apologizing to his partner.

"You keep working and I'll clean this up," he mumbled, hoping it would save time on making the potion.

"No, Mr. Longbottom, your partner will not keep working on the potion. Both of you must clean this up without magic before you can continue your potion or you will receive a zero for your grade." Snape sneered at the two as they hurriedly cleaned up. "However, you two don't have much time left." He glanced at the area of the room where a certain group of Gryffindors sat. He could see Potter and Weasley exchange looks before continuing to work on their potion in silence. What Snape failed to see, however, was Hermione gulping and hurrying to add her final ingredients to the potion.

Hermione carefully added her last ingredient, and the potion turned from brown to purple. She sighed and leaned back, relieved to have finished it correctly. Snape did, however, see this and decided to take advantage of it.

"I hope you aren't trying to impress us with your superiority, Miss Granger. I'm sure there are things you could be doing right now besides basking in your glory at having finished your potion first yet again." Snape's sneer turned into a snide smile, but inside he was irritated at having to make an example of her again.

I always have to make an example of her, Snape thought. He hated picking on Granger; she was actually a brilliant student and a perfect example of what he thought a witch should be. She pushed herself to excel in everything, and she did. Snape sneered again. However, he reminded himself, she always had to make it known that she was good at everything. No one is good at everything, he reminded himself. No one _can_ be good at everything. They just couldn't. Here, he smiled again. Not even the Potter boy was perfect, even if he did try to act just like his father.

He scowled as he looked at Potter then looked around the room to avoid the appearance of singling Harry out. Snape still despised James Potter to this day, and it was blatantly clear to him that Harry would follow his footsteps. Too bad the Granger girl went along with him and Weasley. She'd do so much better if she had that time to study and focus more on her classes. Hermione Granger would be almost perfect then. He shook himself before standing up from his chair.

"Time is up. No doubt most of you will receive bad marks again." Snape again glanced around the room at the students before catching the eye of a young blood in his house. Draco Malfoy paused what he was doing to grin. Snape forced himself to smile back, while his insides groaned again. He despised the Malfoys. Even in school he had hated Lucius, but it had been far better to be a friend of a Malfoy than to stand alone. Besides, he needed the Malfoys' connections right now. Lucius was one of the Death Eaters that was closest to the Dark Lord. Severus broke his eye contact with the young Malfoy to start grading his students' potions. He didn't have to go far to find a passing mark in the Gryffindors. Hermione sat with tension on her face as he looked at her potion. Needing to find something wrong with it, Snape said, "It should be a brighter purple." He walked off, hating how he needed to find a fault. He let his guilt go at the thought that she'd at least appreciate the fact that she had passed. While he was busy coming up with any excuse he could to give Potter and Weasley failing marks, Hermione's face tried to hide her dejection at not having done the potion completely right. No matter how much she studied or how many potions she made, it was never just right. Something was always wrong; the texture, the tint, the smell. Once he even said the taste was a bit off and that she should make sure she had only fresh ingredients for her potions.

After class, she listened as Ron and Harry took turns to describe Snape in unfavorable words. She even forced herself to smile and agree to some of them. Deep down inside, though, she hated herself for her actions against her favorite teacher.


	2. A Chance Encounter

"You're not at it again, are you Hermione?"

Hermione sighed to herself as she looked up to meet Ron's questioning gaze. "I happen to think that all of my classes are important, including Potions."

"Do you see the warm day out?" Harry questioned. "We should be out there enjoying the weather instead of stuck inside working on more schoolwork."

"We could go visit Hagrid, or even just walk around the lake," Ron suggested.

"Better not," Harry warned. "I heard some third years talking about some screeching they heard from his hut during their class."

"Ugh, who knows what he has in there?" Ron sighed. "C'mon Hermione, even your bloody cat is outside."

Hermione snapped her head up before deciding to let it go. "Fine," she responded. "Let's go out." Hermione long ago learned that when the boys got restless like they did now, it was best to just put aside her studying for some other time.

The trio walked into the bright sunlight and slowly walked around the lake. As they neared Hagrid's hut, they heard the rumored screeching and decided to give the hut a wide berth. Ron leaned down and picked up a rock to throw. It only skipped three times before sinking beneath the cool dark water.

"That all you can do?" Harry teased. He picked up a rock and threw it. It managed to skip five times before sinking.

"Oh, because that was so much better," Hermione joked.

"Can you do any better?" Ron asked.

Hermione sighed before responding, "It's all a thing of math, Ronald. As long as you throw it at the right angle with the right velocity, it should work. Bearing in mind the velocity and direction of the lake's waves, of course.

Both the boys stared at Hermione before looking at each other and rolling their eyes. "Forget I asked," Ron muttered. The trio sat at the lakeside and watched the squid swim around. "What do you reckon the chance is for Chudley Cannons this year?" Ron asked Harry hopefully.

Hermione groaned inwardly as Harry answered, "I don't know, Ron. Puddlemere United had a good season last year and is looking to have another good one, from what I hear."

"But the Ballycastle Bats had tryouts and I hear they found a really good Chaser," Ron objected. "They could flatten Puddlemere United if they make a good comeback like they used to be."

Harry sighed. "They've won twenty-seven times so far. They're a favorite."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "I don't remember reading that in any of the articles about the teams this year."

"It was in _Quidditch Through the Ages_," Harry yawned.

Hermione felt her anger seep up. "I'm going to go study. You know, if you spent even half the effort on your class work that you do on Quidditch, you both could be near the top of the class."

"What for?" Ron shrugged. Hermione rolled her eyes before turning swiftly on her heel, heading back for the castle.

From the safety of the castle's shadows, Snape watched the exchange. Neither of the boys would ever be able to be at the top of the class, Snape thought. He sneered at the idea of either of them being Head Boy the following year. He had no doubt Hermione would be Head Girl. Deep inside, he hoped she would be. She deserved it. Severus frowned. Deserving it didn't mean anything. He had deserved it his final year. Instead it went to James Potter. He hadn't even been a prefect the year before. But still it went to Potter. I was deserving of it, Snape thought with a scowl. I was a prefect. I worked hard at school. I made the grades. But no. James Potter had been made Head Boy. Then Potter got the teaching position he himself had applied for. Even now he couldn't seem to get the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts. No, Severus decided, I'm probably stuck as Potions Master.

Suddenly, someone smacked right into him. His arms caught the falling student, only to find he was holding Hermione Granger in his arms. His snide remark caught in his throat, and it took a second for him to recover his voice while he helped steady her.

"I'm so sorry Professor," Hermione rushed. "I didn't see you there and I was just going over a few things in my head-"

"Yes, well, next time you're lost in your thoughts, you might want to keep your eyes where you're walking," he responded.

Hermione paused. She wasn't sure how to answer, mainly because she couldn't tell if Snape had meant that coldly or not. "Again, I'm terribly sorry Professor. I was actually trying to figure out how I miscalculated the ingredients to get the wrong color for my potion today."

Snape paused, not expecting such an answer. Then to recover, he coughed before responding, "You probably needed to add a little more wolfsbane. If there wasn't enough, the potion would appear a more brownish purple like yours did."

Hermione's face fell. "Oh. I was sure I had measured everything right, but I guess I was off. Thank you, Professor." She started walking slowly around him to continue down the walkway.

"Miss Granger?" Snape said quickly. Hermione turned, a mixture of emotions on her face. He tried to think of something to say. "Keep up the good work."

Hermione's face became confused before she slowly responded, "Thank you, Professor Snape." They continued to look at each other before Hermione turned to head back to her dormitory.

As soon as Hermione was out of site, Severus sank into a shadow and slid against the wall to the ground. Putting his head in his hands, he couldn't help but think: what am I doing?


	3. The Truth Revealed

After reaching the Gryffindor dormitory, Hermione gathered up her things and moved to the library. She spread all of her books and notes out, only to find she couldn't concentrate. She frowned at her Potions homework, only being able to see Professor Snape's face. Sighing, Hermione packed up all of her Potions notes and book before attempting to focus on her Transfiguration work. Every time she tried to focus on the words in front of her, her mind strayed to her encounter with Professor Snape.

Hermione gave up trying to concentrate and loaded everything in her bag. Head down, she walked briskly to avoid having to speak to any of the other students. Glancing up, she realized she was heading towards the Astronomy tower. She quickened her pace to reach her destination.

She stepped through the doorway and then paused to take in her surroundings. The sun was close to setting and cast shadows on the landscape below. The world around her was tinted orange with the fading light, and the sky seemed to have been colored by an artist's paintbrush. Glancing around, Hermione shifted to the right of the door so she could put her things down before sitting to watch the sunset. She took in a deep breath and sighed. Why couldn't the world always be so peaceful? Why couldn't the world show the beauty in everyone? Most importantly, why couldn't it make people see the beauty in others?

A tear slid down Hermione's cheek. There was none she felt she could completely confide in. Harry and Ron talked about almost everything to each other, but Hermione could never fathom herself opening completely up to either of them. When she needed to get another girl's perspective, she would talk to Ginny. Really, though, she and Ginny weren't all that similar, and Ginny was having a stressful year.

Then again, Hermione was having a stressful year too. It was her sixth year, so she needed to start preparing herself for her N.E.W.T.s the following year. She was also worried about whether she would be Head Girl or not. She hoped she would; it would help tremendously to get a job if she had that recognition.

At the back of her mind, there was also the constant worry about Harry's safety. She knew that one day he would have to face Voldemort, and she knew that only one would walk away from that battle. Sudden chills attacked Hermione, and she held her legs to her chest to keep warm. Worrying about Harry wouldn't help anyone right now. Especially since Harry was safe right now, with Dumbledore at the school and all.

Another tear fell down her cheek. Before Hermione could stop herself, she was sobbing. The boys hated seeing her get emotional, so she tried not to get that way in front of them. All she could do was bottle it all and deal with it later. Unfortunately, it had been awhile since she had, and it was all now pouring out.

There was a sudden movement, and then Hermione was wrapped in someone's arms. She didn't even know who it was, but she threw her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulders. She didn't know how much time had passed before her sobs started dying down, but after awhile she become conscious of the person stroking her hair. Sniffling, Hermione pulled back to see who had been comforting her.

She had to keep herself from gasping as she saw Professor Snape sitting in front of her, nothing but concern written across his face. "Professor?" was all she could manage to choke out. He smiled gently back at her as he brushed a stray hair away from her face.

"Are you ok, Hermione?" he queried softly. She blinked, surprised that he had addressed her by her first name.

"Yes, Professor Snape. I guess everything just caught up to me, and I just needed to let it out." He nodded slowly, studying her face. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she suddenly felt self-conscious about how she looked. Hermione tried to flatten her hair down a little and rummaged around her bag to find a tissue.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Snape asked gently.

"Yes, sir," Hermione replied. She paused, trying to find a way to word what she was thinking. Instead, she could only whisper, "Thank you, Professor. I appreciate your concern."

He smiled again. "I worry about you, Hermione. More than you know." Hermione's heart pounded faster, and her breathing quickened. Professor Severus Snape cared about her? Someone here actually cared about her? Her eyes watered before a single, solitary tear rolled down her cheek, glistening in the setting sun's light.

"I didn't know you cared about my feelings," Hermione whispered. Professor Snape slowly lifted his hand towards her face, wiping away the tear before cradling his hand again her cheek.

"As your teacher, I'm not supposed to show to what extent I care for you," he responded carefully. Hermione's breath caught in her throat before she could release it shakily. She looked deeply into his eyes and saw feelings in there that she never before knew he could possess. There was something in his eyes that captivated her. Without thinking, Hermione slowly leaned in and softly touched her lips against his. Eyes closed, she pulled back just as slowly. When she opened her eyes, she saw feelings for her on Severus Snape's face that she had never seen before. She saw feelings she was certain no one knew existed deep inside him.

He cupped his hand against her cheek before leaning in to kiss her back softly. After breaking the heavenly kiss, Hermione leaned against Severus. With his arm wrapped around her, the two sat silently and watched the sun sink below the horizon.


End file.
